What is the connotative and denotative meaning of adversary?

Answer 1

The word adversary may be used both as a noun, as in:

• His adversary tried every trick to prevent him from winning the race.

and as an adjective, as in:

• Divorce is, by its own nature, an adversaryprocedure.

As a noun, it is a synonym of opponent, enemy, contender, foe.

As an adjective, it can be a synonym of opposing, antagonistic, enemy (adj.) hostile, antipathetic, inimical, negative, unfriendly, unsympathetic.

As for the connotation of this word, both as a noun and as an adjective, I would say that it tends to be used by those who are, or try to appear, impartial in a dispute. Like many high-register words, it has much less emotional impact than words such as "enemy", "opponent", "foe" and "hostile".